Good News Donald Trump, You Don't Have to Be Very Smart to Be a Good Leader

It’s often suggested by Donald Trump’s critics that because he makes spelling mistakes/can’t always remember names/grasp the finer points of traditional diplomacy (delete as applicable), he must be a bad leader.

But new research could bring good news for the president. A new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology posits that it’s possible for leaders to be too intelligent.

According to a summary on the British Psychological Society website, John Antonakis at the University of Lausanne, working alongside colleagues, signed up 379 mid-ranking leaders in a range of 30 private companies, most of them European.

Each of the leaders took the Wonderlic Personnel Test, a widely-used measurement of mental ability, as well as a personality questionnaire.

Meanwhile, researchers also took a look at reviews of each leader completed by eight people drawn from among their seniors and subordinates.

These peers completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, which rates a leader’s style of leadership. The questionnaire factors in a range of different styles including “passive leaders” and “transformative leaders,” who “inspire others to become leaders themselves.”

Some of these styles are generally considered to be useful, while others, such as passive, are more detrimental.